Trust Falling For You
by Skabooom
Summary: AU. Stiles becomes instantly enamored of the athletic Danny freshman year, but can his spastic ways win the more serious boy's heart? Stiles/Danny slash, T for language.
1. Freshman Year, Part I

_**A/N: alright...high school Teen Wolf AU! :) Hope you enjoy!**_

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><p>"Alright, get a partner whom you would trust to catch you!"<p>

The high school guidance counselor had split the boys and girls up, girls in the auditorium, boys in the gym, as part of the freshman orientation. Stiles automatically paired up with Scott McCall, the only person whom he had really been friends with in middle school and thus, someone he could count on now. It wasn't that Stiles wasn't friendly…in fact, it might have been that he was too friendly, too exuberant…and tended to scare people away far too easily. Scott, though, had been his friend for years and they were too far into their friendship for his spastic antics to hurt things.

Yes, things had become strained a couple of years ago when Stiles' mother had died, but Scott had been there for him, nursing the boy back to his spazzy, energetic and overtly excitable self. Stiles was excited about high school, sure that it would be the dawning of a new era, meaning new friends, but definitely while keeping the old ones…or one, that he already had.

"I'm going to give each pair a bandana; whoever is going to catch first, blindfold your partners, please. Whoever is falling, trust your partner, fall backwards and have confidence that they will catch you!"

"You're falling first," Scott said without hesitation.

"Fine." Stiles shrugged, allowing Scott to blindfold him.

"Alright, whenever you're ready, fall backwards, then switch!" the counselor called.

Stiles closed his eyes behind the blindfold and allowed himself to tip backwards. Scott caught him easily, and Stiles stood upright, ready for his turn to catch once he removed the blindfold.

"You're going to catch me, right, Stiles?" Scott asked as he tied the blindfold over his eyes.

"Nah." Stiles shook his head. "Not worth it."

"Screw you," Scott stated.

Stiles just chucked and stepped backwards, waiting for Scott's fall. Again, it was flawless, Scott falling back without hesitation, Stiles catching his friend with ease. As Stiles helped Scott remove the blindfold, something caught his eye.

"Scott, I'll be right back." He darted away from his friend and towards a boy who's partner had stepped away less than a second after he began to fall. The pairing was all wrong, the boy falling was tall and very muscular, where as the one catching was scrawny and timid. Stiles moved to break the taller boy's fall, but a combination of coming towards him from the wrong angle and being rather scrawny himself had ended with the taller boy falling on top of him, squishing him to the ground slightly.

"Oof." Stiles let out a small squeak as the taller boy wriggled off of him.

"Oh my god…" the boy turned, his eyes wide. "I am so sorry…I…you're not my partner…" He looked confused.

"Yeah, I know…" Stiles chuckled slightly, propping himself up on his elbows as he looked at the boy. "You're partner-"

"I'm so sorry, Danny!" The timid boy ran up to them and immediately began to fret. "I wimped out…I'm so sorry, this kid just ran in and…you're lucky!"

"It's alright, Johnny, don't freak out." Danny, as Stiles had learned the boy was called, offered a hand to help Stiles to his feet. "Thanks for breaking my fall…"

"Stiles." The hand offered for help turned into a shake. "Well, my last name is Stilinski, but…people call me Stiles, so…just Stiles."

"I'm Daniel Rodriguez." Danny smiled. "But you can call me Danny, you know, if you'd rather."

"Alright." Stiles nodded.

"Oi!" Scott called back to Stiles, waiting for his partner for the next exercise.

"Oh, shit…coming!" Stiles called back. "Look," he turned back to Danny. "Gotta run."

"Hey." Danny grabbed the sleeve of Stiles' shirt. "I'll see you around, okay?" Stiles just nodded and headed back over to where Scott stood.

"What was that all about?" Scott asked, tipping his head to the side.

"Tall, cute guy was falling, he needed help." Stiles shrugged.

"Oh Jesus, what are you doing, Stiles?" Scott asked, looking at his friend suspiciously. "He is NOT your type."

"Oh, he absolutely is," Stiles corrected, biting the bottom of his lip as he watched Danny walk away. "He is definitely my type."

"Stiles, do NOT fall for another straight boy. You'll just end up hurt," Scott advised.

"I'm 15, I'm not going to get hurt." Stiles shook his head. "I'm too young to fall in love, thus too young to get my heart broken."

"Okay, that's not even a little bit true," Scott interjected, shaking his head. He knew his friend too well, and while Stiles was in the closet to most, his close friendship with Scott meant that he was out now, and plenty proud of who he was…at least between the two of them. "Romeo and Juliet were what, like 14 when they met? They fell in love and that was that. The same thing could happen to you, but it would be like Romeo and Tybalt…or Romeo and Mercutio, because I guess there really isn't the whole warring family thing going on in this instance."

"Romeo and Juliet ended up dead," Stiles reminded him. "And besides, no one even knows if they were really in love or if it was just lust or puppy crushing. And more besides, that was then, like way then people said 'thou art' instead of you are and wore those flea collar things all of the time. This is now where people say 'yo bro' and wear t-shirts." Stiles playfully punched his friend in the arm. "I'll be fine, don't worry about me. I'm not going to chase him, I'm just going to let the chips fall where they may."

Despite what he said, Stiles could feel his ears grow hot as he watched Danny. He was far too shy to make a move, but this boy had already struck a chord in him, and it was only the first day of High School. It was going to be a lot different of an experience than he had expected.

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><p><em><strong>AN I hope that you enjoyed that...please stay tuned for more! **_


	2. Freshman Year, Part II

"Are you going to eat that?" Jackson Whittemore, one of the first high school friends that Danny had made looked at the pudding that Danny was currently jabbing at rather casually with his spoon.

"Huh?" Danny looked up, completely caught off guard, the spoon falling to the ground with a loud clatter as he did so.

"You alright?" Jackson asked, changing the question when he realized that there was something off about his friend. "You seem a little jumpy."

"Oh, yeah I'm fine, I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night, you know, Lacrosse try out jitters…you know how it goes." Danny shrugged, trying not to look up in the direction of Stiles and Scott, who were eating a few tables away, and having a great time by the looks of things. Stiles seemed like a funny kid – at least Scott seemed to think so, but because he looked away too soon, he missed Stiles turn and eye him for a few seconds, despite Scott's disapproving eye rolls.

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense." Jackson shrugged. "So can I have your pudding then?"

"Yeah, sure." Danny nodded and handed the dessert cup to his friend, too deep in thought to care much what happened to his pudding anyways.

"Thanks." Jackson tilted his head to the side as he ate, wondering what was going on with Danny. As far as he knew, no high school athlete would give up their desert that easily, especially not a delicious chocolate pudding cup.

As Jackson scarfed down the superfluous dessert, Danny stared off into space, looking at the wall on the opposite side of the room from Stiles and Scott, willing himself NOT to look at the hilariously shorter boy.

_Get yourself into gear, Danny,_ he told himself. _You're just really nervous about Lacrosse try outs, that feeling in your stomach is just butterflies from that, they have nothing, I repeat _nothing_ to do with Stiles. You're just worried that you'll fuck up, that you won't make the team or something like that, there's no reason to fret over this, it's just nerves, just normal high school athletic try out nerves. Jackson is feeling them too, he has to be, everyone feels nervous before try outs and you are _no _different from anyone else at this school…or at least you're no different from anyone else at this table, you-_

"Skittish much?" Jackson laughed as the bell rang, pulling Danny from his thoughts and forcing him to jump a couple of inches out of his seat.

"Shut up." Danny shoved Jackson with his shoulder as they moved towards the front of the cafeteria, throwing out their trash before heading back into the sea of students milling towards their classes. After school would be the beginning of try outs, and maybe then Danny would be able to find something that made sense rather than deal with the sneaking suspicion that these were about to be the most confusing years of his life.

"Hey, it's Danny, right?" Stiles jogged up to Danny in the hallway after the second week of classes, a goofy grin in place on his face as Danny was starting to think there always was…not that he was paying attention to the other boy, or at least not that he was intending to.

"Yeah." Danny turned around, nodding, gym bag complete with protruding lacrosse stick slung over his right shoulder.

"I'm having a few people over tonight to watch Ghost Busters, like…a marathon, or double feature, I guess. I mean, at least I'm trying to have people over. Right now it's just me and Scott, but do you want to come? You could bring a friend or five." It hadn't gone unnoticed with Stiles that Danny seemed popular, sitting not only with the cooler freshmen, but even some sophomores and a smattering of upper classmen.

"I'm sorry…" Danny shook his head. "I can't, I have a lacrosse game…" he gestured at the gym bag.

"But that's over by like six, right?" Stiles didn't know much about school sports, but he was certain that they were over at the end of the day, weren't they?

"The game starts at six…"

"Wait, are you on first line?" Stiles looked at Danny, eyes wide and Danny just nodded, trying not to flush. "What does that make you…like the ONLY freshman on first line?"

"No, Jackson Whittemore made first line too, but yeah, we're the only Freshmen."

"Do you get any playing time?" Stiles asked, suddenly more excited about Lacrosse than he was about the pending Ghost Busters double feature.

"Yeah, I do – I mean less than some of the older guys, but I see enough game time." Danny shrugged awkwardly, not sure of how else to go about answering that question.

"Okay, well good to you, man!" Stiles walked away, not sure what his next move in attempting to friend Danny Rodriguez would be. Danny turned around as Stiles left, thinking of asking him to come to the game, but by the time that he had managed to work up the courage to call after the other boy, Stiles was out of earshot.

Of course, Stiles went to the game anyways, dragging Scott with him; he didn't have to be asked. Danny, however, trying to focus on the game, didn't notice him, he was too wrapped up in the hype of the game and, by the time the high from the victory had worn off, Stiles was long gone.

The rest of the Lacrosse season carried out, Stiles attending each one of the home games, unbeknownst to Danny, who always kept his eye on the prize: the game at hand.

"Danny?" Stiles walked up to Danny in the hallway again on a Wednesday afternoon. Danny turned around, but said nothing. "Do you want to go grab some pizza? Celebrate the winning lacrosse season or whatever?"

"I'd like to, but I'm sorry, I can't." Danny shook his head apologetically. "Basketball…you know…" He didn't say anything else, he just walked away, leaving Stiles alone in the hallway.

With the knowledge that Danny played that sport as well, Stiles went to all of the basketball games, but unlike lacrosse, Danny noticed his presence this time. It was the third home game of the season, and Danny was just going in for a layup when he saw Stiles, goofy smile and all, watching the game intently. He managed to sink the layup, but it was the last basket that Danny made all night.

At the next game, Danny looked for Stiles before tip-off and the second he saw the boy, looked away. Unlike the third game, the fourth was the first of many games where Danny exceeded expectations greatly, playing better just because he knew someone was there…well, someone besides his mother who always managed to come to the games and sometimes even dragged his father along with her.

"Hey." The guys on the team sat around a table eating pizza one night after yet another winning game. "Danny, I saw you talking to that Sheriff's kid awhile back in the hallway or whatever," Jackson stated.

"Yeah?" Danny shrugged. "So what?"

"I heard he's a queer, you know, he's always hanging out with that other kid, you know, the weird one with asthma? So what's the word on that?" Jackson, as well as the rest of the team, looked at Danny expectantly.

"I don't know," Danny answered truthfully.

"I mean, didn't you get a gay vibe from him or something?" One of the other guys on his team pushed the question. "Come on…he didn't seem even a little queer to you?"

"Well maybe a little," Danny admitted with a shrug, not sure if he was just saying that because of the pressure or because he actually felt it to be true.

"I KNEW IT!" The guy who had forced the question smirked. "Freshman Stilinski's a faggot!" He pumped his first in the air, smiling, knowing that he had his latest torture victim.

The next day, the rumor was all over school. Danny felt awful, but it was made even worse a few weeks into the spring term when Stiles, seemingly un-phased by the undying rumor, came up to him yet again in the hallways.

"Hey, I know that you're doing spring Baseball, but if you wanted to do something this weekend-"

Danny cut Stiles off by pushing past him, not even letting him finish. He couldn't be seen socializing with the "gay" boy, even if he had been the one to start the rumor.

This time, Stiles didn't go to any of the baseball games, and Danny noticed, but he loved baseball, so he did his best not to let the difference impact his game, even though he missed the goofy grin in the stands.

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><p><em><strong>AN I know...that was a lot less spastic fun than the last chapter, but this story has ups and downs! :)**_

_**I hope you enjoyed it!**_


	3. Sophomore Year, Part I

That summer, Danny's father walked out on him and his mother, and the worst part was, Danny didn't really want him to come back. His dad had been lousy anyways, and a part of him knew that they were far better off without him, but the feeling that his father didn't love enough to even try anymore did manage to hurt him in a way that, no matter how hard he tried, Danny couldn't deny.

He spent the summer alone, working on convincing himself that he didn't need a father who didn't love him. Danny even went so far as to try and make himself believe that he didn't need anyone to love him, but everything that he spent the entire summer working towards shattered in his first day back at school and absolutely nothing could have prepared him for it.

Danny made it almost the entire day without thinking about his summer loss. He had forced himself to focus on school, to think about the lacrosse season, and none of his fellow jocks, not even Jackson, seemed at all willing to bring up any of the pain that Danny might be feeling. He said that he was fine and plastered a smile on his face, and to the boys that he sat with and partied with, that was as good as actually being fine, whether it was true or not. Danny felt like he should be miffed that his friends didn't care enough to really make sure he was alright, but in actuality, he was relieved that they were letting it go because it meant that he wouldn't have to think about it.

"Danny…"

Danny felt a hand on his shoulder after his first class and he whipped around, surprised to see Stiles, after all, he had spent the entirety of freshman year blowing the other boy off. Stiles had grown a little taller over the break, or at least so Danny suspected. He had definitely cut his hair, and he was now looking at Danny intensely with his deep, brown eyes.

"I uh…I heard about your father, and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." He paused, looking away from Danny, choosing to focus on the ground instead. "No one deserves that."

Without waiting for any sort of response, Stiles turned and walked away, disappearing into the sea of people trying to find their way out of the school, hoping to grab onto the last few days of summer weather.

In the few seconds that it took the shorter boy to get lose in the crowed, however, Danny realized that Stiles was the sole person who had offered any comfort besides his mother and even more surprising to him was the realization that he wanted that comfort.

"Move." Danny pushed past a group of lost freshmen, looking through the crowd for Stiles. "Please, I need to get through…"

Danny continued to wade through people until he saw Stiles making his way down the hallway.

"STILES!" He called, suddenly not caring who saw. Stiles turned around slowly wand walked back towards Danny. "Look, I'm sorry," Danny started. "I started the rumor about you, you know…being, well, gay and I didn't mean to, I really…it wasn't supposed to happen, it really wasn't. I was talking to some of the guys and they asked me and I felt pressured and that doesn't excuse it at all, it really doesn't, but I didn't…I wasn't even-"

"It doesn't matter." Stiles shook his head. "Come on."

Stiles grabbed the strap of Danny's messenger bag and pulled him through the crowd towards one of the school's side doors. With the mass of stampeding students, it took them a few minutes to make it to their destination, but when they did, Gabe looked at Danny, leaning against the wall by the door.

"What do you want?" Stiles asked.

"What do you mean?" Danny looked at the other boy, confusion riddling his face.

"If you could have anything in the world right now, what would it be?" Stiles asked, looking seriously into Danny's eyes.

"I…I don't know." Danny shrugged. "I have no idea." The look of confusion remained on his face as he tried to figure out exactly what Stiles was playing at. Was this some sort of elaborate pay back for the way that he had treated the other boy the past year? He had ignored the boy as a result of nothing more than a rumor that he, himself had started, and he wasn't sure that he should be forgiven, and he was even more suspicious as to what that meant with Stiles now.

"Would you want your dad back? If you could snap your fingers and bring him back in your life just the way that he had been before, would you do it?"

"I…" Danny bit his lip. His instinct had been to say yes, just because no seemed incredibly apathetic to him, but he couldn't ignore the way that Stiles was looking at him, and what was more, he didn't think that he was going to be able to lie to the boy, not right now when he was the only person who seemed to be doing anything to try and help him.

"Take your time," Stiles said softly, not wanting to rush Danny. He knew that it was kind of a big question, and though the hesitation gave Stiles the answer that he needed, he was still going to wait for Danny to give his final answer before he moved the conversation along.

"No," Danny said at last. "I wouldn't."

"Okay." Stiles nodded. "And if you could snap your fingers and have a family that would love you more than anything in the world, would you do it?"

"What?" Danny frowned, trying to figure out what the hell Stiles was playing at.

"Just-just answer the question, okay?"

"Fine." Danny nodded. "Yes, I would."

"Come on." Stiles pushed the side door open and held it for Danny. He started walking once they were both through, Danny jogging after him.

"Where are we going?" Danny asked, trying to walk in stride. Maybe he was the athlete, but Stiles was a speedy little walker and there was no denying that.

"To get you a family."

Stiles didn't say anything more as they walked, despite Danny's persistent questions. What the hell did that mean, that they were going to get him family? He still had his mother, but she was at work, she was going to have to work a lot more to make a living and support her son now, and he was well aware of the fact that she wouldn't be home when he got home from school anymore.

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><p><strong><em>AN I posted this on my other story, but this might be the last I post for a few days, I'm traveling home for Spring Break, but I will try to post again on Sunday, if not sooner! Enjoy!  
><em>**


	4. Sophomore Year, Part II

The two boys walked in silence for almost a mile before arriving at a fairly small, but nice house.

"DAD!" Stiles bellowed as he opened the door to a cluttered, but somehow not disorganized entrance hall. "I'm home! I brought a friend!" Stiles dumped his backpack amongst the organized chaos of things and forayed into the house, Danny following behind him, wondering what the hell was happening.

"Is he staying for dinner?" Stiles' dad, who had taken the day off work specifically to spend time with his son after his first day of school, walked into the room, tilting his head to the side.

"I don't know." Stiles looked to Danny. "Do you want to stay for dinner?" Danny just nodded, suddenly feeling shy, and looked down at his sneakers. "That's a yes." Stiles smiled at his father. "So…snack?"

"Make it yourself." The Sheriff rolled his eyes and pointed towards the kitchen door. "Since you brought a friend home, I'm going to run down to the station and check on things." Stiles mocked exasperation before dragging Danny into the kitchen.

"So…that's your dad?" Danny asked. "He's so…"

"Not the intimidating sheriff you expected?"

"I was going for nice, but yours works too." Danny chuckled.

"Hungry?" Stiles asked, grabbing a bag of potato chips and opening it, offering it to Danny before he even had a chance to answer. Danny smiled gently, taking a few chips and thanking Stiles before following the other boy into the living room to watch TV and kill two hours, seeing as it was too early in the semester for homework to be given out yet.

"Dad's home." Stiles turned off the TV as he heard the garage door opening.

"You turn off the TV just because your dad comes home?" Danny raised an eyebrow at Gabe.

"You've only met my dad briefly, you don't really know him…he's kind of serious about TV rules before homework and he won't believe we don't have any homework yet." Stiles stood up, heading to the kitchen to talk to his father in private for a moment.

"So, how was school?" Stiles' father asked, looking at his son.

"Eh, you know, it was school…look, can we be really chill tonight? Danny…needs a little cheering up."

"Cheering up, eh? Why's that?"

"His uh…" Stiles lowered his voice. "His dad left and he's pretty upset about it."

"Okay, okay, we can make this work." Stiles' father smiled. "When I get changed, you two had better be ready for me!"

"Will do." Stiles went back into the living room and beckoned for Danny to join him in the kitchen where he almost immediately began to rifle through the fridge.

"What are you doing?" Danny asked.

"We're going to make dinner. It's my job to help out with dinner most nights. I mean you don't have to, but it's really kind of fun."

"Wait…you like helping your parents?" Danny asked.

"My dad," Stiles corrected. "It's uh…it's just the two of us. My mom died a few years back."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Danny looked down, suddenly feeling even more awful for starting the rumor about Stiles. The boy hadn't needed his life to be more difficult and here Danny had gone and made his freshman year horrible.

"Don't worry about it, we've…figured out how to make it work with just us." He smiled. "But yes, that does mean helping him and I really don't mind it, it's actually really great."

"Well I guess I kind of have to believe you then, don't I?"

"Pretty much." Stiles emerged from the fridge with cold pizza dough. "What do you eat on your pizza?" Stiles asked, his hand already in the vegetable crisper as he tried to pull out onions.

"I don't know," Danny said. "Just…whatever, really."

"Okay then, vegetarian it is because I'm pretty sure I ate all the pepperoni as a midnight snack yesterday."

"Fair enough." Danny laughed, watching Stiles pull vegetables willy nilly from the fridge. "Look, about that rumor…I really didn't meant to start it, it was just one of those things where someone asks you a questions and mistakes ambiguity for a yes because that's what they wanted to hear…and then you kind of don't fix the mistake because you want the people on your team to like you instead of wanting the nice guy to like you…the one who actually cares enough to ask how you feel when you're father leaves…"

"Hey, Danny, don't worry about it okay? Things like that, they happen, it's high school, that's the way it works." Stiles shrugged. "Here, help me get the dough ready." He handed Danny some of the dough and they mixed it with a little flour. "You know what would be awesome?" Stiles asked as he sprinkled the flour onto his dough.

"What?" Danny asked, looking at Stiles.

The second that Danny turned his head, Stiles threw a small handful of flour at him, catching him right in the face. Danny brushed the flour away and glared at Stiles, who was giving him a 'what are you going to do about it?' type of smirk.

"Oh, it is on now!" Danny laughed as he reached into the bag of flour. Stiles' father walked in JUST as Danny threw a handful of flour at Stiles, hitting him in the shoulder.

"What is going on here?" Stiles' dad laughed, looking between his flour dusted son and the new boy, who still had traces of flour on his face.

"Sheriff Stilinski, I swear, he started it…" Danny tried to stop his laughter as he pointed at Stiles.

"John is fine, none of this Sheriff business." The man smiled. "And don't worry, I believe you." He shook his head at his son, though he couldn't put on a serious face more than two seconds without laughing at the odd expression on Stiles' face. "Now let's make some pizza.

The three of them set to work, making the vegetarian pizza and the conversation at the table was far livelier between the three of them than it ever had been at Danny's house, no matter how many relatives they had crabbed around the Thanksgiving table. Danny was laughing and having fun; they let him fit right in, treating him as though he had known them for his entire life, as though Stiles had brought him home a million times before.

When the meal ended, Danny insisted on helping John clean up while Stiles went outside to water the plants.

"Stiles has talked about you before, you know," John stated as he wiped a dish clean.

"He has?" Danny asked, trying to keep his ears from growing hot.

"Last year, actually, after orientation. He said that he got squished by some tall kid named Danny in trust falling exercises." He laughed. "Then a few days later he said that he knew someone on the lacrosse team, so he went to one of the games…and then after that, he started going to a lot of sporting events because his friend, whom I never got to meet and frankly feared was made up, was on the team."

"Oh." Danny didn't know what to say. "He didn't go to the baseball games in the spring. He was mad at me, I did something awful to him."

"Didn't go to the baseball games?" John frowned. "Yes he did. Son, just because you don't see someone doesn't mean that they aren't there.

Danny stopped in the middle of washing the plate.

"Oh."

"He's a strange boy," John explained. "I've never fully understood him, but I think if I did, things would be different and I don't want them to change, I don't want _him _to change."

"Yeah…I don't either." Danny said the words before he'd even known they were true. Today was the first real time that he had spent with Stiles and yet it felt as though they had been inseparable for years.

That night marked the first of many that Danny would spend at Stiles' house, staying late into the night and sometimes sleeping there, even on school nights. He didn't neglect his homework, Stiles and the Sheriff wouldn't have let him, but he did stop sports, they just didn't matter to him, not anymore.

The school year flew by, both boys ignoring the rumors that circulated, the rumors that Danny, after spending so much time with the eccentric Stiles and quit sports, had switched teams himself, but Stiles taught Danny not to care what people said about him. Sometimes, when they hung out, Scott would join them, sometimes with his new girlfriend, Allison, but more often than not, it was just the two of them, and despite Danny's past preference for large group settings, he was perfectly content just having Stiles.

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><p><em><strong>AN And we're back! I hope you enjoyed! :)**_


	5. Junior Year, Part I

That summer, Danny's mother got remarried and the last remains of what had been his family collapsed down around him. His mother told him that Stiles couldn't come to the wedding, that it was a family thing, and while he tried to explain to her that Stiles WAS his family, it only seemed to make her angry.

Danny sat through the ceremony, wishing that he didn't have to be there either. Stiles was the person in his life that made everything feel alright, like it was going to be okay and with this happening, without his best friend by his side he felt like crap. Danny liked the family that Stiles had introduced him to, and he honestly did feel that Stiles was his family now. It wasn't fair that he wasn't allowed to be there.

After the ceremony, everyone went to a hotel for the reception, but Danny skipped out, choosing to go up to the hotel room that had been booked in his name and locked himself in, staying as far away from the reception as he could. He sat on the floor and pulled his knees up to his chest, trying not to cry all over his suit as he thought about how, just over a year ago, he'd had a mom and a dad and now he had a mom who wasn't the same person she used to be and a step dad who, no matter how hard he tried, couldn't get Danny to like him.

After about half an hour, Danny heard a knock on the door, but he didn't move to answer it.

"Go away," he called.

"I can't do that." Danny raised his head and looked at the door. The voice belonged to Stiles. He stood up and opened the door. "Oh Danny…" Stiles, noticing that his friend had been crying, pulled him into a tight hug, trying his best to make him feel better with the embrace.

"This isn't how I wanted to remember my summer." Danny spoke into Stiles' chest, not wanting to break the embrace. "I wanted to remember the fun stuff, you know, the hanging out with you at the pool, going for bike rides, that stuff…but I know that this is what's going to stick with me. Tonight is going to be the night that I tell people about when they asked me what happened this summer."

"Then let's make it worth remembering." Stiles smiled and stepped away from Danny, showing off a hot pink leisure suit, easily the most ridiculous outfit that Danny had ever seen in his life. "There's a party downstairs and that party is the host of a very, very open bar, which means free Roy Rogers all night long, so let's get high on caffeine and dance until the wee hours of the morning."

"You're not supposed to be here," Danny reminded him, biting his lip. Stiles' plan seemed a lot more entertaining than the one that he had been acting on, but he didn't think his mother would take too kindly to the realization that he had snuck Stiles into the wedding reception...then again, she had said he couldn't come to the wedding, she never said anything about the reception. Besides that, she had lied. All of her friends were there, so it wasn't just a family thing.

"That's bullshit." Stiles shook his head, his nose wrinkled in a nearly comical fashion…then again, with the outfit that he had chosen, it would have been hard for him to look anything but hilarious. "My best friends needs me. Wherever I am needed, that's where I'll be…tell me that you don't need me to be here and I'll split, but be honest about it."

"I…I need you to be here," Danny said softly, slightly ashamed at the knowledge that he couldn't get through this night by himself. He wanted to be strong, but right now he just couldn't figure out how to make that happen. He didn't know how to be that person, how to be the one who stood tall when his family was falling apart, and Stiles seemed to know exactly what would make Danny feel better. After all, he had shown up uninvited in a silly outfit all in an attempt to help cheer up his friend.

"Then let's go have fun." Stiles took Danny's hand, pulling him out of the hotel room and down to the reception.

The two teenagers did as Stiles had suggested, and Danny temporarily forgot everything that was wrong in his life, just glad to have a friend like Stiles to distract him from the pains of real life. That was how Danny remembered his summer, staying up all night with Stiles, long after the party in the hotel room by themselves while his mother and her new husband were in the honeymoon suite several floors away, too far away for Danny to think about. Stiles and Danny watched TV and laughed for hours, but that wasn't the most memorable part of the evening. That came when they both lay on the double bed, sprawled out, practically zombiefied, watching Zoolander at well past 4 in the morning.

"Danny?" Stiles turned slightly so that he had his eyes on Danny – not a perfect angle, but enough so that he could see any extreme expression made by the other boy.

"Yeah, Stiles?"

"If I tell you something, will you promise not to get mad?"

"After tonight, I don't know that it's possible for me to be mad at you," Danny informed him.

"Well you know that rumor that you started about me? You know, the one Freshman year?"

"Danny nodded.

"It was kind of…only half a rumor." Stiles gulped, looking away from Danny, not wanting to see the look on his face in case he wasn't as accepting as he had told Stiles he would be. "I am gay, I just wasn't seeing Scott…" Stiles bit his lip, waiting for the inevitable backlash of his admission, but it didn't come.

"That's fine." Danny shrugged. "I'm honestly not that surprised."

"You're not?" Stiles looked back at Danny, one eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Nah, I mean look at that suit you're wearing." He reached out, tugging on the lapel of the hot pink suit jacket. "Besides, it doesn't change anything, does it? It's not like you weren't gay before and you are now, you're just now telling me."

"Of course." Stiles smiled, glad that Danny was accepting this. "It won't change anything.

But it did, it changed everything…just not on the surface. Stiles couldn't stop wondering what Danny was thinking. Was he only pretending to be okay with it because he wanted a friend? It began to drive him crazy, but Danny was going just as insane trying to figure out what move to make. Since he had met Stiles he had felt that the boy was special. However, he had been able to convince himself that Stile was just that one in a billion kind of friend, the kind who would never let you down and always be there…but now he was wondering if maybe, just maybe, it was something more.

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><p><strong><em>AN Thanks for reading! Hope you liked the image of Stiles in a hot pink leisure suit as much as I do!_**


	6. Junior Year, Part II

Near Christmas of that year, Danny heard Stiles sing for the first time. On Christmas Eve, he went to midnight mass with Stiles and his dad, something that he had never done before, not even with his own family. Stiles knew all of the songs and hymns and his voice was rich and melodic, nothing like Danny would have expected. The entire service, he kept looking over to Stiles, who was so caught up in the singing that he didn't seem to notice Danny staring…or at least he didn't acknowledge it and once the service ended, no matter how tired Danny felt he should be, he was wide awake.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Stiles asked after the service had come to a close.

"That's alright." Danny shook his head. He wanted Stiles to walk him home, though , but he didn't want to be an imposition.

"_Can _I walk you home?" Stiles asked, rephrasing the statement and causing a warm smile to spread across Danny's face.

"I'd like that." Danny nodded and the boys set off, trudging through the snow, jackets pulled tight around them.

"It's officially Christmas now, you know," Stiles said, stopping about a block from Danny's house.

"I know." Danny nodded.

"I have something for you, I mean it's not your gift or anything, it's just something that I wanted to give you right now while we're alone, you know, when there's no one else around to make fun of it or whatever."

"Oh." Danny smiled. "I'm sorry, I don't have anything for you – I mean I do, it's just…it's at home, not here." He looked down at the snow, feeling slightly guilty as Stiles handed over an envelope.

"That's fine." Stiles shrugged, jamming his hands back into his pockets. "I like I said, it's not your gift and you don't have to open it now, I mean…yeah…it's just a card."

"I want to open it," Danny stated. He broke the seal and pulled out a simple card with a white dove on the front. Stiles took a deep breath, looking away as Danny began to read what he had written.

**Dear Danny,**

** You can choose to ignore this, and if you do I wouldn't blame you, but when I told you I was gay, you were only the third person that I've trusted enough to come out to, after Scott and my father. Danny, you are truly the most extraordinary person that I've never met and I really, really wanted to be able to just tell you this in person. I've tried, I've tried several times, in fact, but I'm just so afraid that I'll lose you if I do, so I'm going to say this as simply as I know how. **

** I love you.**

There wasn't anything else written on the card, and Danny put it back in the envelope, tucking it calmly into the pocket of his jacket before turning to face Stiles.

"You're not going to lose me," Danny said softly. "Come on." He began to walk again, beckoning for Stiles to join him. "You have a beautiful singing voice, you know," Danny said after a few feet, looking down at the snow. "I was listening to you at church. It was…it was really nice."

"Oh, thanks."

"I think that you should come in, you know, warm up a little bit before you go home," Danny insisted, holding the door open for Stiles.

"Okay." Stiles nodded and Danny pushed the door open further. He stepped inside the hallway and waited for Stiles to follow before closing the door. Stiles moved to take his shoes off, but Danny stopped him.

"It's Christmas," Danny stated.

"I know, I said that earlier." Stiles looked up at Danny, confusion riddling his face.

"There's uh…there's mistletoe and there's me, and then there's you." Danny stepped closer to Stiles. "And there's me and you." Danny looked down at his feet. "And the 'me and you' is floating around somewhere in the middle. It's there, it's confusing, but it's not even new."

"Danny…" Stiles shifted awkwardly. "Is this because of what I wrote?"

"Yes." Danny nodded. "Well, yes and no. It's complicated, but do you remember when you asked me if I could have anything in the world right at that moment, what would it be?"

"Yeah…"

"I didn't know then, but now it's clear that what I want is standing right in front of me, looking awkwardly at his feet just like I am and hopefully thinking the exact same thing."

"What's that?" Stiles asked, forcing himself to look up at Danny.

"That it would be a shame to waste perfectly good mistletoe."

"I think you're right." Stiles inched slightly closer to Danny. "But, I mean, I don't want you to feel like this is something that you have to do, I don't want you to feel like you owe me for anything, I don't want you to-"

"Stiles." Danny reached out, putting his hand on Stiles' shoulder. "It's not like that, it never was. It doesn't make sense to me, it probably never will. I don't know what to think, what to say, what to do…" Danny leaned in, placing a soft, unsure kiss on the corner of Stiles' mouth. "All that I'm trying to say, Stiles, is that I love you too. I've never been able to trust anyone before, I've never been able to depend on anyone before and I don't…I don't know what to think."

"Then don't." Stiles reached out, placing his hand on Danny's chin. "Just accept that sometimes, things happen even when we don't plan for them."

Stiles leaned in and kissed Danny. Both closed their eyes, Danny returning the kiss for a few seconds before pulling away slowly. He smiled shyly at Stiles and bit his bottom lip as they opened their eyes to look at each other.

"I should be getting home," Stiles whispered. "But can I see you tomorrow?"

"Yes." Danny nodded.

"Call me when you're family stuff is over, or just show up, my dad said that you can come over whenever you want. He likes you, he's starting to think of you like a second son."

"That's…you don't know what that means to me." Danny smiled, emotions filling every cavity of his being.

"No," Stiles shook his head. "I don't, but as long as it makes you happy, that's what I need."

Danny didn't say anything, he just leaned in and kissed Stiles on more time before holding the door open, watching from the entryway as Stiles walked down the street, lingering long after the other boy had turned the corner and disappeared from sight. He didn't realize how important that night was yet, that it was about to be the start of the most beautiful relationship he ever could have imagined.

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><p><em><strong>AN Aaaand...they're together.**_


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